Author's Disclaimer: I in no way own any intellectual or actual properties associated with Bones, they are the sole property of Fox. No matter how sexy Seeley is. The quotes in chapter one are taken from The Man in the Outhouse [4.03] to set the scene, all other words are mine.
Summary: My spin on what Dr. Sweets should have done after Booth's comment to Bones at the end of The Man in the Outhouse [4.03]. Warning, rated M for later chapters. My first attempt at an M-rated fic.
CHAPTER 1:
"Does it seem that your partnership provides a surrogate relationship, making it more difficult to form other bonds?" Dr. Sweets asked suggestively. He had his suspicions about the underlying nature of the partners' relationship, but he had to be careful not to push either one while trying to get his confirmation.
"A surrogate relationship wouldn't necessarily be such a bad thing because then I could avoid the sting of rejection which, however fleeting, is still uncomfortable." Dr. Temperance Brennan answered, dejectedly.
"Right. Okay, look, I'm sorry, you know what, if Mark and Jason don't know how lucky they are, they don't deserve you in the first place." Agent Booth stated adamantly.
"No, relationships are temporary." Dr. Brennan countered, but it was clear she didn't want to believe this as she once did.
"No, that's not true, Bones, you're wrong. Okay, there is someone for everyone, someone you're meant to spend the rest of your life with. Alright, you just have to be open enough to see it, that's all." Agent Booth stated comfortingly, his focus entirely on Dr. Brennan, and hers on him.
Through his evaluations, Dr. Sweets had come to believe that for such great observers, Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan were completely oblivious to each other and themselves. After Agent Booth's last comment Dr. Sweets was struggling not to yell out "JUST TELL HER YOU LOVE HER ALREADY". No, no, this wasn't some night out at the movies where the audience can yell at the screen what they know should or will happen. No, subtle comments and questions would have to do for now until Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan were able to turn their great detecting skills on each other. But someone was going to have to point them in the right direction.
Despite his age and Agent Booth's repeated attempts to intimidate him, Dr. Sweets knew he would be able to get the partners to open up, if only to each other. The question was, should he? The Bureau frowned upon fraternization among its agents, but Dr. Brennan was an independent consultant through the Jeffersonian Institution. True she was treated like an agent in some respects when it came to questioning suspects and providing backup, but she was not an agent. The distinction was often made very clear though when Dr. Brennan insisted that remains and crime scene particulates be sent back to the Jeffersonian rather than an FBI lab. It was clear her professional loyalties lay with them. But it wasn't the teams' professional loyalties that Dr. Sweets was most concerned with. He knew that the pair had a highly developed sense of professionalism, not to mention their shared dedication to upholding the law. There was no "dirty dealing" or planting of evidence, no entrapment or manipulation of the facts. These two wouldn't stand for anything less than truth and justice, no matter how ugly it was when everything came to light. It was their emotional capabilities that he wondered about.
On the surface the pair seemed fairly stable, if at times a bit odd. They complimented each other, in ways they didn't realize but was painfully obvious to nearly every person who met them. However it was Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan's ability to compartmentalize their feelings from themselves, which concerned Dr. Sweets.
Given the extensive amount of emotional turmoil experienced by both Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan over the course of their partnership, it was Dr. Sweet's opinion that they coped only because they had each other. But the "line" they clung to was only going to get in the way as their working together continuously threw them into more difficult cases. They needed to be able to support each other without fear of getting hurt. Their lives were complicated enough, they deserved something, some compensation for their unfailing dedication to standing up for the dead when no one else would or could.
His mind made up, Dr. Sweets chose his next words very carefully.